#214_Masikoy: A Variant of Palitaw

Masikoy
(pronounced: mah-si-coi, rhymes with McCoy)

Like a plant that is indigenous to a certain region,
Masikoy is a kakanin that is a native to Pangasinan.
It is a variant of palitaw made with sesame sauce.

Masikoy is one of my favorite merienda items when I was growing up. The reason why it had become my favorite is perhaps I had aunts who made it every day to sell during merienda time and I had the privilege most of the time of being the first to buy a bowl of it from them before taking the freshly cooked masikoy to their stall. (buena mano daw!)
The only regret I have is that I didn't learn how to make it from them. Luckily, a few years ago a friend of mine was so nice to give me a recipe.

To make the masikoy easier and faster, we need to prep the sesame seeds first, even days ahead as this is the time-consuming part of the process.

Raw sesame seeds don't have much flavor until they are roasted.
Roasting the seeds is what releases their natural oil
resulting to their amazing aroma and nutty flavor.

There are 2 ways to roast the seeds:

1) Oven method:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread the seeds in a baking sheet and roast them for 5- 10 minutes.

2) Stove top Method:

Pour the seeds in a dry (no oil) heavy gauge pan (I use a regular Philippine kawali) and roast them over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the seeds turn brown or amber in color.(edited) This process takes me about 30 minutes of non-stop stirring.

The key to a good and flavorful Masikoy is in the roasted sesame seeds. If the seeds are not roasted right, the sauce will not turn out right. Make sure not to over roast the seeds, otherwise they will taste bitter. I'll say practice makes a perfectly roasted sesame seeds.

grind roasted sesame seeds in a coffee grinder
(sorry, this color is a lot darker in this picture than the actual color,
this may be due to poor lighting in my kitchen)

Unlike my aunts who used mortar and pestle to pulverized the roasted sesame seeds, I am grateful that I have a mini coffee grinder that I use only for grinding spices, otherwise it will take me all day to prepare this food.

Grind the seeds ahead of time

then put it in a jar with tight-fitting lid so you can have them ready to make the Masikoy.

The only down side of using this electric grinder is that it pulverizes only about 60 % of the seeds, unless maybe you process it over again.

Making the rice dough is exactly the same way as the Palitaw

except they are shaped into disks instead of oval.

Disks of rice doughs floating

Follow the steps of making the rice doughs (see previous post, recipe #213, click here.) up to the stage when the doughs start to float, leave the doughs in the pot, then gradually pour in the sesame sauce mix (below). Stir to blend all the ingredients. Simmer for about 3-5 minutes longer. That's it! Really easy!

Sesame Sauce Mix
In a bowl, mix together:
3/4 cup white sugar, (or more if desired)
1/3 cup ground sesame seeds
1/4 cup rice flour

#213_Palitaw or Unday-Unday

Palitaw 1
Rolled in fresh grated coconut
then topped with Macapuno Balls
Palitaw 2
 Dredged in freshly grated coconut, then sprinkled with
toasted, ground sesame seeds with sugar.

Palitaw is a very popular snack item in the Philippines and I bet that most Filipinos know how to make it or have eaten at least a variety of it.

There are several variants of this type of kakanin, one of which is the Bilo-bilo, (glutinous rice balls) click here. Another one I know is the Pangasinan's Masikoy of which I'll be posting next. Actually this Palitaw post is a prelude to the masikoy recipe post, click here.

These three snack items, palitaw, bilo-bilo and masikoy, are basically made with glutinous rice flour and water and are made the same way by dropping them in boiling water.

When first dropped into the boiling water, the shaped rice doughs will sink all the way to the bottom of the pot, but it won't take very long before they come up floating to the surface, thus the root word litaw, a Tagalog word meaning to emerge or to surface, where Palitaw got its name. "Lulobog, lilitaw".....what goes down must come up!"

In the province of Pangasinan, where I am from we call this Unday-Unday. Unfortunately, I don't know what that means.

Palitaw is very easy and super simple to make with only 2 ingredients:

2 cups of glutinous rice flour

3/4 to 1 cup water

Mix well to form a soft dough, gradually adding some more water if the dough is too dry and hard. Pinch off little pieces at a time and roll into about 1 inch balls between the palms of your hands, flatten into oval shapes, then toss them in rice flour to prevent the formed doughs from sticking to each other.

In a pot bring about 8 cups of water to rolling boil then drop these rice doughs into the rapidly boiling water. When they start to float, they are cooked, but I like to simmer them uncovered for about 3-5 minutes longer, then take them out with a slotted spoon onto a platter. At this point, it is not a good idea to eat them because they are bland and it would be like eating spaghetti without the sauce or like eating rice without ulam or viand.

For toppings:

In order to put some good flavors into these rice doughs, you need to dredge them in freshly grated coconut after taking them out of the pot, then top them with anything you like such as macapuno strings; toasted, ground sesame seeds with white sugar; toasted black sesame seeds with white sugar or just plain sugar and grated coconut.

My father liked soft bucayo on top of his palitaw. This soft bucayo were made with young coconuts and white sugar and were sold every morning at the market.

ENJOY!